All creatures, all goods, and all transactions must be associated with a definite identity. These same creatures, goods, and transactions will then be referenced by that identity when there is a need to authenticate their identification. In the past, and today more than ever, unscrupulous people seek to counterfeit either the products or their associated identities. Likewise, although it is impossible to counterfeit living creatures, it is possible that their identity can be falsified or usurped as needed.
Today there exist many unique and non-reproducible methods of identification. For example, the means of identification described in patent GB 2 304 077 consists of an assortment of reflective particles distributed in three dimensions in a support material, said particles reflecting from a light source an assortment of rays at different angles to create a unique signature of reflected light that can be detected by a reading method.
It is true that a random, three-dimensional arrangement of heterogeneous material guarantees the uniqueness and non-reproducibility of a means of identification. Nevertheless, storing these different signatures and reading and comparing them in order to guarantee such qualities are a very complex process. Such a means of identification must be unable to be falsified in order to guarantee the authenticity and security of its associated goods and services. In addition, there is also a risk that the slightest variation in the relative position of the incidental lighting, the receiver, and the means of identification will be enough to generate a different signal. As a result, it is almost impossible to construct two identical readers. Large-scale use of such a means of identification and its reading method would slow down transactions considerably, serving as a barrier to its use. It is also possible to trick such a device, thereby rendering it useless. All that is necessary is to have access to the various signatures in order to present photocopies of them to the reading device.
Storing a group of luminous signatures of a means of identification requires a large number of bytes, and comparison of one of these signatures to the recorded group can take hours with today's methods of communication. This reading method allows falsification since it only interprets images projected on a plane, even though they are generated three-dimensionally.
Another means of identification is described in patent GB 2 324 065. This method also offers a three-dimensional guarantee of uniqueness and non-reproducibility. However, the means of identification described in that document consists of first and second distinct elements, the second element being fixed and positioned randomly inside the first, with the position of the second element in relation to the first forming an identification code. Rather than translating the position of the first element in relation to the other into code, it is possible to utilize a standard analysis of the pattern formed by the heterogeneous items in the interior of a transparent material.
Nevertheless, this reading method can be deceived since the image that is analyzed consists of a two-dimensional image, the reader not utilizing its full three-dimensional structure. Therefore, the third dimension or the three-dimensional geometry is the guarantor of uniqueness and non-reproducibility, but the reading method can be deceived since it does not take into account the three-dimensional nature of the means of identification. However, even if the reading or coding could be conducted on the totality of the volume, the number of possibilities would create the same problems already described above in that the reading, storage, and comparison would become such lengthy operations that this authentication solution could not really be exploited on a grand scale.
The three-dimensional nature of this type of means of identification, which is composed of measurable heterogeneous items distributed randomly in a support material, guarantees uniqueness and non-reproducibility, since the random arrangement is difficult to reproduce in three dimensions. Moreover, it is not possible to reproduce a layout that is itself embedded in the material without modifying said layout.